New Jersey Department of Health

PO Box 360
Trenton, NJ 08625-0360

For Release:
September 7, 2021

Judith M. Persichilli
Commissioner

For Further Information Contact:
Office of Communications
(609) 984-7160

Department of Health Proposes to Recodify Rules Governing HIV Infection Reporting from N.J.A.C. 8:57-2 to N.J.A.C. 8:65, with Amendments, Repeals, and New Rules

The Division of HIV, STD, and TB Services of the New Jersey Department of Health today proposes to recodify the existing rules governing HIV infection reporting from N.J.A.C. 8:57-2 to N.J.A.C. 8:65 with amendments, repeals, and new rules.

Existing N.J.A.C. 8:57-2 provides standards and procedures by which health care professionals, clinical laboratories, HIV counseling and testing sites, and persons in charge of health care facilities and certain institutions, are to report HIV diagnoses and HIV-related laboratory test results to the Department’s HIV surveillance unit.  The proposed recodification with amendments, repeals, and new rules would reflect the administrative reorganization of the Department’s HIV-related program activities from within the Communicable Disease Service of the Division of Epidemiology, Environmental and Occupational Health, to the Division of HIV, STD, and TB Services.

Accurate and complete reporting of HIV infection diagnoses and HIV-related laboratory test results facilitates the Department’s ability to identify clients to whom the State can offer services and prevents cases from being “lost to follow-up.”  The proposed amendments, repeals, and new rules would update the reporting requirements to correspond to the information collection and reporting requirements of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. The Department’s continued eligibility for, and the amount of, Federal grant funding the State receives depend on the State’s compliance with CDC’s reporting standards.  These data inform the CDC as to the prevalence and progression of HIV infection in the State, and thereby indicate the State’s corresponding need for HIV infection prevention and treatment funding, relative to other jurisdictions competing for Federal funds.  These funds are critical to support the Department’s provision of HIV-related services to New Jerseyans, both directly and through disbursements to local partners providing HIV-related services throughout the State.  Additional proposed amendments would update outdated terminology and forms.

The proposal appears in the September 7, 2021, issue of the New Jersey Register. The public will have until November 6, 2021, to comment on the proposal.

Persons wishing to comment on the proposal must submit written comments either (1) electronically by November 6, 2021, to http://www.nj.gov/health/legal/ecomments.shtml or (2) by regular mail postmarked on or before November 6, 2021, to Joy L. Lindo, Director, Office of Legal and Regulatory Compliance, New Jersey Department of Health, PO Box 360, Trenton, NJ 08625-0360.

LexisNexis provides free online access to the New Jersey Register at https://www.state.nj.us/oal/rules/accessp/. An unofficial copy of the proposal is available on the Department’s website at http://nj.gov/health/legal/open.shtml.